


A Modest Proposal

by AuthorToBeNamedLater



Series: Keeping Up With The Raptors [19]
Category: Hockey RPF, No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hockey, Alternate Universe - Sports, F/M, Gen, Hockey, Marriage Proposal, National Hockey League, Raptors, Seattle, Sports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 10:46:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1030783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorToBeNamedLater/pseuds/AuthorToBeNamedLater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gunnar Norgaard needs to propose to his lady and goes to his teammates for help. Unfortunately, he doesn't find much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Modest Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> This is in Hockey RPF because Jason Spezza has a wee cameo at the end.

Gunnar Norgaard packed up his gear after practice, took a breath, and walked up to his team captain.

“Hey, Hank.” Gunnar cleared his throat. “Can I talk to you? For a second?”

Hank pulled his sweatshirt over his head. “Sure, what's up?” He looked at Gunnar and furrowed his brow. “Everything OK? You want to go somewhere private?”

Gunnar shook his head. “No. It's not a problem.” The dressing room in Rand Morgan was mostly empty by now, just Gunnar, Hank and Janko Rybar at the other end near the door. “I'm gonna ask Lise to marry me.”

“Norgie, that's great!” Hank exclaimed, grabbing Gunnar in a hug.

The backup goalie returned the embrace with a nervous laugh. “She hasn't said yes yet.”

Hank pulled back with a confident smile. “She will.”

“What's great?” Janko asked. He stood from the bench and ambled over to Gunnar and Hank.

“I'm gonna propose to Lise,” Gunnar said. 

“Hey!” Janko gave his teammate a slap on the back. “That's great, man! Congratulations!”

Gunnar looked back at Hank. “I need an idea for the proposal. How did you propose to Katie?”

Hank got a dreamy, faraway look in his eye. “We were in college,” he recalled. “She was on the women's hockey team, so after they were done practicing one day I talked her into meeting me on the ice for some one-on-one. We slapped the puck around for awhile, and then I got down on one knee at center ice, pulled out the diamond and asked her.”

“Lise isn't gonna go for that,” Gunnar said.

“You didn't ask what Lise would go for,” Hank pointed out. “You asked how I proposed to my wife.”

“He's right,” Janko put in.

Gunnar looked between his two teammates. _This was no help at all._

.

.

.

“Keller? How'd you propose to Janika?”

Tim Keller paused on his walk to his car outside the practice arena. Jogging up behind him was one Gunnar Norgaard. “Looking for inspiration, eh?”

Gunnar nodded.

“Well, I was playing in Austria during the lockout in '04-'05,” Keller said. “When the season ended I knew I'd have to go back to St. Louis, so I told Janika I wanted to marry her, but if she wanted to marry me she'd have to come to the States.” He shrugged. “She thought I was worth it.”

Gunnar gave Keller a quizzical look. “Is that why your daughter is Vienna?”

Keller nodded with fatherly pride. “That wasn't much help, was it?”

“It's a good story,” Gunnar said. “But it's not really something I can use.”

Keller laughed.

.

.

.

“How'd you propose to Amy, Bulk?”

Stanislav Cibulka looked over his shoulder at Gunnar as the team made their way into the dressing room following morning skate. “Why so curious?”

“Why so suspicious?” Gunnar retorted. “I'm trying to get an idea for how to propose to Lise.”

“It was right before I got traded here,” Stanislav said. “I called Amy up and told her that I didn't want to go to Seattle without her, but if she wanted to come we had to get married.”

Gunnar blinked. “She went for that?”

Stanislav nodded.

“That is the least romantic proposal ever,” Gunnar said bluntly.

“Amy's low-maintenance,” Stanislav said. “It's what I love about her.”

.

.

.

“Ronny? How'd you ask Inna to marry you?”

Andor Ronningen stopped on his way to his car. “Looking for ideas, I take it?” He asked Gunnar.

“It was after practice one day when I was in Boston,” Ronny said. “We went out for lunch and I took her for a walk along the Charles River. It was her favorite part of the city. After we'd been going for awhile I just got down on one knee and asked her.”

Gunnar nodded thoughtfully.

“I'm guessing I wasn't any help,” Ronny speculated.

“It's not bad,” Gunnar said. He flushed. “Oh, Ronny, I didn't mean--”

Andor chuckled and patted Gunnar's shoulder. “What about the midnight on New Year's Eve idea? Tried and true.”

“Won't we be in Calgary on New Year's Eve?”

Andor thought a moment. “You're right.”

“I just don't want to do some cookie-cutter proposal,” Gunnar explained. “I want her to know I put some thought into it.”

.

.

.

“Boz?”

Ugur Bozkurt paused mid-wrap as he wound tape around his hockey stick. “You want to know how I proposed to Susan.” He looked up at Gunnar. “I heard you've been making the rounds.”

“So how did you?” Gunnar sat down on the bench next to his teammate.

“Took her out for dinner one night and asked,” Ugur answered simply.

“That's it?”

“Norgie, it doesn't have to be a big thing.” Boz ripped the end of his tape and set the stick across his lap.

“But it _is_ a big thing,” Gunnar insisted. “It's a proposal, right?”

“Look, Norgie, what Lise wants to know most is that you love her, you want to spend the rest of your life with her, and that your proposal comes from here.” Ugur tapped his chest. “It doesn't have to be a production.”

Poor Gunnar looked entirely defeated. “Lise likes productions,” he said feebly.

Ugur smiled at the Raptors' goalie. “So what about Christmas Eve? That's a production.”

Gunnar shook his head. “Dad always told me not to ask a girl on Christmas, Valentine's Day or her birthday. If things go south the ring's hers and you don't get it back.”

“For real?”

“Yup.”

“Didn't know that,” Ugur said. “So Christmas is out.”

Gunnar sighed heavily. “Thanks for trying, Boz. I guess I'll just have to hound some of the guys I haven't asked yet.”

.

.

.

“Mikey, I need help.”

Mikey Palmer looked up from his iPhone as the Raptors milled out of the dressing room following their 2-1 shootout win over the Dallas Stars. Gunnar stood in front of him, looking frustrated and helpless. “OK,” the winger said.

“I need ideas for how to propose to Lise.” Gunnar leaned against the cinderblock wall.

“Why are you asking me?” Mikey stuffed his phone in his jacket pocket. “Don't you want to talk to the guys who've done this?”

“None of them are any help,” Gunnar huffed.

“All right.” Mikey sighed. “Well...what's she into? I mean, are we talking walks on the beach at sunset or...?”

“Walks on the beach? It's December.”

“Klingon men read love poetry,” Mikey suggested.

“Does everything have to be a _Star Trek_ reference with you?” Gunnar asked somewhat irritably. After a moment, he asked, “What about the women?”

“They hurl things,” Mikey answered like he was talking about the weather.

“Oh,” Gunnar said. He shrugged. “I mean, you only propose once, right? I wanna make it special.”

An idea formed in Mikey's head. “Lise used to do theater, right?”

“Yeah. She majored in it in college,” Gunnar said.

“So she likes being on stage.”

“Are you kidding me? She goes through life starring in her own show.”

Mikey chuckled at his teammate's description. “Have you two talked about this at all? Getting married?”

“Yeah,” Gunnar said. “Of course.”

“So you're confident she'll say yes.”

“Yeah.”

“OK.” Mikey put his hand on Gunnar's shoulder. “I've got an idea.”

.

.

.

Lise McKenna, originally of Peshastin, Washington, stood in the tunnel at Boeing Arena wearing a smaller version of her boyfriend's #29 jersey ( _Sweater_ , she mentally corrected herself. Gunnar had adamantly informed her on their second date that hockey players wore _sweaters_ ) and waiting for her cue to drop the puck for the ceremonial opening face-off.

Lise had met Gunnar three years ago when he showed up at the Starbucks she was working at in Tacoma to pay her bills while she got her degree in theater from the University of Washington. Lise had eventually noticed that the handsome fellow with blue eyes, emo hair and a Swedish accent (she'd guessed he was from Minnesota at the time) came in at the same time and ordered the same thing—Caffe Americano—nearly every day. After awhile Lise would just see that it was nearing 11:00am and get the drink ready.

They never exchanged anything beyond pleasantries and Gunnar's debit card, but Lise soon found herself curious. It wasn't like Starbucks never got return customers, but something about this one drew Lise's attention. So one day when she went on break, Lise got her own coffee, sat down at Gunnar's table, and began talking to him.

She'd liked him right away. Gunnar wasn't exactly outgoing, but he was kind and considerate and had a dry sense of humor. At the time he'd been playing for the Raptors' AHL affiliate in Tacoma. Lise wasn't a big sports fan and she didn't know anything about hockey, but Gunnar had patiently explained everything to her and, since she always gave him such great service, how about two tickets to their game Friday night?

Lise had gone with one of her coworkers who was a big Raptors fan and they had a great time. Gunnar had even met them after the game. The next day Gunnar met Lise after her shift ended and told her that he liked her, and would like to see her more. Their romance had moved quickly after that, and when Gunnar got the job as the Raptors' backup Lise eagerly followed him to Seattle.

And now she was here. Honestly, Lise had no idea why the Raptors' PR department had asked her to perform the ceremonial face-off tonight. But they had, and she'd agreed.

“Lise. You ready to go?”

Lise snapped out of her daze and looked at the stage manager, a small blond woman with a Georgia twang. Lise didn't know if the woman actually was called a stage manager, but that's what she would have been if this were a play.

“Yeah,” Lise answered. “Yeah. I'm ready.” She pushed a piece of dark hair behind her shoulder.

The woman nodded and walked toward the ice, speaking into her headset. A few seconds later she beckoned to Lise, and Lise started out the tunnel.

Lise reflexively put on a bright smile as she emerged onto the carpet. She knew the 18,502 fans weren't here to watch her—in fact, judging by the many empty seats, a lot of them weren't even here yet, but Lise considered all the world a stage and at the moment the stage was the ice at Boeing Arena.

Another PR rep met Lise at the end of the carpet. “Hi, Lise,” he greeted. Then he pointed to the Raptors bench and beckoned someone over.

Lise looked to her right. _Gunnar? What's he doing?_

Gunnar skated to Lise with a nervous half-smile on his face. “What is this?” She asked when he was close enough to hear her.

Gunnar stopped in front of the carpet and got down on one knee.

Lise gasped. _What..._

“Lise?” Gunnar opened his left hand to reveal a black velvet box.

Lise took the box with trembling fingers. She opened it and saw a round diamond flanked by two pear-shaped onyx stones. “Oh my...”

“Lise?”

Lise looked back to her boyfriend through the tears welling in her eyes.

“Marry me?” Gunnar asked with a smile.

Lise nodded. “Yes.” She giggled. “Yes, yes. Yes.”

Gunnar laughed, stood up and swept Lise off her feet in a giant hug. “I love you,” he said above the _Ahhhh_ s and cheers coming from the crowd.

.

.

.

“And look at that,” Don Obenshain, the Raptors' color man, said from the broadcast booth while Gunnar set his sweetheart back on the carpet. Lise was wiping her cheeks and grinning while the Raptors gave their goalie stick taps on the boards.

“That takes guts,” play-by-play man Jake Wheeler commented.

Lise slid the ring on her finger and held her left hand up for the arena to see. Gunnar gave her a kiss and headed back to the bench, all smiles.

“I think Gunnar's gonna be in a pretty good mood tonight no matter what happens in this game,” Jake said.

.

.

.

“Will the team captains please come forward,” the arena's PA announcer called.

Hank swung his legs over the dasher and joined Jason Spezza, the Ottawa Senators' captain, in front of Lise.

“Don't know how we can follow that act,” Spezza cracked.

Hank laughed. “Congratulations,” he said to Lise.

“Yes indeed. Many happy returns,” Spezza echoed.

The referee handed Lise the puck. “Congratulations, ma'am,” he said.

Hank and Spezza assumed the positions, Lise dropped the puck, they posed for the picture, and went on their way.

.

.

.

Gunnar sat back on the bench, relieved he wasn't starting tonight. He was abuzz with relief and happiness.

_She said yes. I'm gonna get married._ Gunnar grinned like a fool and didn't care who noticed. _And I'm gonna marry_ that _girl! How'd I get so lucky? And to think I almost signed with Detroit...I might have a Stanley Cup, but I wouldn't have her._


End file.
